My Life as A Tiger(Jessica Kniestedt) My Life as a Tiger
by: Jessica Kniestedt




The Beginning
Chapter 1

Life as a tiger is great for me. I live in a grassland and I am not like most tigers. In fact, I am the leader of my streak and the only reason was because my two front teeth came out to a point. I am the last of my kind. I am a white Bali tiger and my name is Jess.

Baby tigers are called cubs. We stay in the den for about eight weeks and our mom makes sure that no other animals hurt us, especially other tigers. Then we get to be more active around 18 months old and start to venture out into the world. I lived with my mom for about two and a half years and then I left my mom and went out on my own. But not like most tigers; I wanted to try and make a pack – except for tigers, it's called a “streak.” Of course, it's hard to find other tigers to make a streak since most tigers want to live on their own. But not this tiger! I looked for a good streak and I ended up making one. In my pack are Leigh, who is a white tiger, Anna and Elizabeth who are both Bengal tigers, and Stella who is a golden tiger. I made sure that no one would hurt my streak.


Our Home
Chapter 2

My streak and I were just chilling at our home in the grassland. While we were just hanging around, some of us went to hunt for some deer, while the others stayed behind to protect our territory and to make sure no other tigers (or other predators) would come around here.

We were lucky and the streak had quite the feast. When we were done we all went and took a nice cat nap in the sun. But suddenly, we awoke to a noise in our territory and we were ready to defend what was ours.
“Did you guys hear that?” asked Anna.
“Yeah, we sure did,” said Leigh.
“Who do you think it was, Jess?” asked Anna.
“I don't know just be prepared to protect our home,” I said.
“We're ready,” said Elizabeth.
“Yeah, all the way,” said Stella.
“I'm always ready to fight,” said Elizabeth. (She had some anger issues she needed to work out.) Before I knew it, we were fighting another tiger streak.
“So we're not the only tigers that have a streak,” said Anna.
“Yeah, it looks that way,” said Leigh.
“Well, well, well... Look what we have here,” said the big, golden tiger.
“Yeah, some little tigers,” said the smaller tigers with a big scar over his eye.
“You're in our spot,” the big, golden tiger said.
“Whatever!” said Leigh.
“Oh, a smart one here, I see,” said the golden one. And he boldly came up to Leigh.
“Back away from her,” I said.
“Or what?!” he growled.
“Or this!” I roared, and attacked him. Then we all ended up fighting for the territory. All of a sudden, we heard the sound of a gun, and the other tigers ran off.


The Hunters
Chapter 3

There were hunters in our territory and we do whatever it took to protect it. “Great, we get rid of the other tigers and now we have humans to deal with!” muttered Leigh.
“Well, this should be fun!” said Elizabeth.
“You are crazy, Elizabeth!” said Anna. Suddenly, we heard gun shots again. And they sounded a lot closer than before.
“You guys ready?” I asked.
“We're with you all the way,” said Leigh.

And then before you knew it, they were right in front of us. And we did what any tigers would do and that was to protect our territory. When they saw us, they were ready to fire and we were ready to fight. As soon as they started to fire, we went after them and attacked them.

“Get this tiger off me!” one of the men yelled. And another man fired at Elizabeth and that was not good for me. No one hurts anyone in my streak. Everything went red and I flew across the field and attacked. I don't really remember much, but it seemed like days. It was really just a couple of hours and the hunters finally retreated and left us alone.

But the fight was not over yet. We were about to have another visitor.



The Unwelcome Visitor
Chapter 4

“Guys I smell another visitor,” said Anna.
“Can you tell what it is?” asked Leigh.
“Not really,” said Anna.
“I might be able to tell,” said Elizabeth. And so she went and sniffed the air.
“Well Elizabeth what is it?” I asked.
“It smells like...a...wait...a Lion?” said Elizabeth.
“Great. I am tired from fighting off the hunters,” said Stella.
“Okay, why don't you take a break then,” I said.
“Wait. What? She's taking a cat nap while we all fight off a lion?” said Elizabeth.
“Suck it up, Elizabeth.” I wasn't in the mood and we didn't have the time for this pettiness.
“Grrr...” Elizabeth wasn't happy but she stopped arguing. Good.
“Okay, then let's go show this lion he's in the wrong area,” I said.

It was four against one. But this was one tough lion and I was afraid we couldn't beat him on our own. Before you knew it, we were all down and hurt, the lion was barely hurt at all and just about to attack us again. And just as he was getting ready to pounce, another tiger came and attacked the lion. I'm not too sure what happened after that. Everything got really woozy and I collapsed.


Who Was That?
Chapter 5

My streak and I passed out and the last thing I remembered was that there was a tiger that saved all of us. When we all woke up, we were in our den by each other. “What happened?” asked Anna.
“I don't know,” said Leigh.
“Me either,” said Elizabeth.
“Stella, what happened? How did we get back into our den?” I asked.
“When I came out I saw you guys down on the ground and hurt really bad. Then I looked up and saw that a male tiger fought off the lion,” said Stella.
“Wait... that doesn't tell me how we got into the den, though,” I said.
“Well, that male tiger helped me carry you guys back into the den!” said Stella, matter-of-factly.
“Did you happen to get the tiger's name?” I asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, and his name was Dakota,” said Stella.
“Dakota, huh? That's a strong name,” I said to myself.
“He is outside of our den if you want to talk to him,” said Stella. And as soon as she said that, I eased myself up to make my way out to talk to him.
“It looks like our Jess might have her eye on this tiger,” said Anna.
“It sure looks that way to me, too,” Leigh giggled.
“So, that might mean we will finally have a male in our pack,” said Elizabeth.
“Yeah, that could be a good thing,” said Stella with a smile.
Meanwhile... I was outside our den and I saw him. I wanted to go up to him and tell him thanks for saving us all, but I was scared to death. So I decided to turn around, but he knew I was out there and said, “Wait.”
I turned around and he was looking at me. “Yes?” I said.
“You are one pretty tiger,” he said.
“Well, thank you and thanks for saving my streak... and me,” I said. We sat outside the den for hours just talking. And before you knew it, he was part of our streak.



The Growing Streak
Chapter 6

So now we had Dakota in the streak; but he was not the only new member in our streak. You got it right! We had cubs! So now we are even more protective since I've got three wonderful, baby cubs.
They were only a week old, eyes not yet opened. “Hey there love - how are the cubs?” asked Dakota as he came into the den.
“There fine, hun,” I said, just a little bit tired.
“Okay just thought I should check up on you and them,” said Dakota. And then left to guard the entrance with Elizabeth and Leigh. Anna and Stella were inside the den watching over the cubs and me.
“You have a great husband,” said Anna smiling.
“Yeah, you sure do,” Stella chimed in.
“I was lucky he found me. He's so caring of the cubs and me,” I said.
“By the way, what are you going to name the cubs?”
“I don't really know just yet. I will have to see how they are when they are up and moving around,” I said as I rubbed my eyes.
Then we all heard voices. It was Dakota talking to someone and the voice sounded like one I had heard before, too.
“I wonder who Dakota is talking to,” said Anna.
“Me too,” said Stella.


Revenge
Chapter 7

I was still inside the den with Anna and Stella. Dakota, Leigh, and Elizabeth were outside talking to someone. “Who is out there with them?” I wondered.
“I'll go and take a look,” said Anna. When she came back, she was not happy one bit.
“What is it Anna?” asked Stella.
“It's those two tigers again,” said Anna.
“You've got to be kidding me. What on earth do they want?” I said.
“Don't worry. They can't get passed those three, plus we are still in here. No one is going to let them get to those cubs of yours,” said Anna. And they both stood up and went right in front of me ready to protect us.
Meanwhile, outside the den, the big, golden tiger and the tiger with the scar over his eye was back. Growling. “Where is she?!”
“We are not telling you!” Leigh growled back.
“We won't let you hurt her,” said Elizabeth.
“Oh really?!” roared the big tiger as he pounced and attacked Leigh and Elizabeth. Both tigers headed towards the den, but Dakota jumped in front of them.
“You are NOT hurting my wife!” roared Dakota.
“Oh so she is your wife? That means you must have cubs in there then and that's why she's not out here. She's busy being a female,” said the big, golden tiger.
“I am warning you. Back away and no one gets hurts,” said Dakota. But they did not listen to him and went for it.

I could hear the fighting and I started to worry. “I don't like this at all. I hope everything is okay.”
“I am sure he will be fine,” said Anna, but I could tell she was worried too.
“Yeah, don't worry about it,” said Stella. She seemed to hide her concern a little bit better than Anna.
“Thanks, girls.” I said.
“Of course!” said Anna.
“I think it would be hard for him to fight off two tigers,” said Anna.
“Me too,” said Stella. But what she didn't know was that one of the other tigers had already gotten through and was coming into our den.
“He is in here, right?” asked Stella.
“Yes, he sure is!” said Anna. And then out of the blue, he came and attacked Anna and Stella and smashed them against the den wall. They were out cold.
“Well it looks like its just me and you now,” said the tiger with the scar on his eye. I had no idea what to do. My cubs were still nursing and he was just about to pounce on me. Just as I was getting prepared to protect my babies, I heard a powerful roar. A whirlwind of fury came in and attacked. It was Dakota!
“I said leave my wife and kids alone!” he growled
“But how did you... You were way out there, and...” said the tiger.
“I am just that good,” said Dakota. And with that, he smashed him against the wall. He continued to beat him out of the den and that was the last time we saw of them.




Names
Chapter 8

A month went by and the cubs eyes opened were now opened and they were beginning to move around in the den. “Are you going to name them soon?” asked Anna.
“We already have,” I said.
“Really. What are there names?” asked Elizabeth.
“The girls are Rosie and Lulu, and the boy is Fred,” I said.
“Those are cute names,” said Anna.
“They sure are,” Dakota beamed.

A year went by and the kids playing around with each other and they were not going to leave my side like most would do. All of us were happy together.

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